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Well, that didn’t last long. Twitch is revoking a policy change that allowed users to post “artistic depictions” of nudity after just two days.
Twitch is backtracking on the change after users unleashed digitally created depictions of nudity on the live streaming service. “Much of the content created has been met with community concern. These are concerns we share,” the Amazon-owned company said. “Upon reflection, we have decided that we went too far with this change.”
Twitch updated its sexual content guidelines on Wednesday to allow users to post fictionalized nudity, whether it be drawn, animated, or sculpted. The only requirement was that the artistic nudes had to be tagged with a “Sexual Themes" label.
At the time, Twitch justified the policy revision to support the artist community. But since then, the company noticed users leveraging AI image generators to post digitally created nudes that can look photorealistic, making it “hard to distinguish between digital art and photography.”
“So, effective today, we are rolling back the artistic nudity change,” Twitch said. “Moving forward, depictions of real or fictional nudity won’t be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium.”
The sudden reversal is creating some embarrassment for Twitch, which initially announced the artistic nudity revision to create less confusion, not more. In response, Twitch President Dan Clancy wrote: “While I wish we would have predicted this outcome, part of our job is to make adjustments that serve the community. I apologize for the confusion that this update has caused.”
The company is leaving the rest of Wednesday’s policy changes intact. These revisions include allowing users to conduct erotic dances that involve disrobing, along with content that deliberately highlights “breasts, buttocks or pelvic region” so long as the videos are labeled.